Cyrus moved to the other prison cell door. Pulling himself up, he saw two humans in front with more humanoids lined up behind them. The front human was brawny and covered in thick black hair. The other looked enfeebled. Unfortunately, they were not who he was looking for, but he pulled on the door anyways. “This has got to be done quickly”, he thought to himself. Not surprisingly, the door was locked. He found the keys on the dead orc’s body along with a coin pouch and dagger. Opening the door all the prisoners inside lurched forward a step. It was then he noticed the prisoners’ ceiling chain was locked to the door’s interior just above the window. Cyrus tried several keys before he found the right one for the chain. “Move! Move!” he said to the two humans in front. They walked their manacles off the hanging chain and slumped to the floor in exhaustion. A goblin behind them tried to move itself off to, but Cyrus kicked it back. Locking the chain to the door again he checked down the line: all humanoids, some were orcs even.
Cyrus turned back to the exhausted human slaves on the floor.
"Pendra... and Certa... still live..." gasped the brawny human in front.
"YES! My enemies will pay for what they have done!" Cyrus called out in triumph.
He used the keys he found on the dead orc’s body to unlock the humans’ manacles. Then he brandished his bloodied axe in their faces. "NEVER CROSS ME!" he threatened. Turning back Cyrus began cutting the heads off of the hobgoblins, goblins, kobolds, and other strange creatures squirming along the slave chain.
Realizing the desperateness of his situation, the invisible Igor began dodging through the horde of orcs in the hall before him. It was difficult as he was essentially blind, so when he bumped into one he pushed it aside roughly and grunted loudly. Then he ran a few more steps forward. By the time he made it past three orcs on the left side of the tunnel he could hear others stumbling into each other. Now they seemed to be arguing with themselves instead of waiting to fight his friends. After another push and darting step, Igor was practically charging down the hallway. Tripping and falling, he tumbled over some hairy figures and what felt like one very small orc, which had fallen to the ground. Trying to keep his speed and direction, he eventually stepped right out into daylight. Dram was swinging his sword towards Igor’s head. The large man managed to stop himself just in time. “Where did you come from?” Igor looked down at himself. He was visible again.
Darius listened to the orcs growling in the darkness. The pitch of battle seemed to have quieted however. Pax was still conscious, but struggled with an orc bear-hugged in his arms. Feeling up to the creature’s head, Darius shattered its skull with his hammer. “Pax. It’s Darius. Can you stand? We need to move out of this blindness.” Pax agreed and the two crawled along the floor trying to find an exit. Something fell on top of Darius flattening him to the ground, but it scrambled away before he could hit it in return. Determined to have some payback, Darius led Pax after the attacker. The two crawled out into the sunlit entranceway. He saw Dram pushing Igor out of the way. “Where is he?” the paladin growled. Mirel answered. “Darius! Dalin is still in there!” The dwarf helped Pax to his feet. Father Ben pulled out bandages for them as Dram and Igor moved into positions in front of the darkness. “He was shouting. Down towards the right.” Mirel pleaded. “But now he’s stopped!”
Darius nodded. He understood. Ormand the Redd was ordered to cease firing into the cave. The arrows shooting out at them had stopped a few minutes ago. Darius needed a volunteer to go back in and find Dalin with him. He also asked for possible escape plans, “before this madness gets any worse.” “We can leave in me packsack. I move fastest.” Igor answered. Darius fixed his gaze on him. “That should work. But Holly will lead the way. And no one leaves until I get back!” With that, Darius ran into the blackness alone trailing his right hand along the caveside. Dram lit a torch and ran after him. After only a few steps around the right-hand corner Darius could see again with his darkvision. Three orcs were picking over Dalin’s body. Blood pooled beneath it. Upon seeing him, they stood up and growled down the otherwise empty hall. Dram moved up from behind Darius and lit up the room. The orcs rushed at them and wailed. Their howling was soon joined from all directions.
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